a heap of snow to fall to have a quiet Sunday. On account of effectively being snowed in, no cars were started today, and the furthest anyone has been, was Tricia and Ellie going up to church this morning. We had a traditional Sunday roast for lunch, and Tricia and I fell asleep on the sofa after lunch. A nice quiet Sunday.

Yesterday was far more stressful. In the morning I was due to pick up Nikki from Hemel Hempstead. The local forecast was that we should be free from any snowfall… However when I set off there was a little snow in the air. When I got Hemel, it still wasn’t too bad. I met Nikki and her coach and we had a meeting with a director from GB Bobsleigh. When we came out an hour later, the snow was hammering down.. The trek started trying to get out of Hemel. After one failed attempt to get up to the main A41, we were forced to turn around and try a different route… like everybody else. It took 2 hours to get to the A41. Fortunately we then maanged to get to Aylesbury. I have to say though there was a time when I didn’t think we were actually going to get home . From Aylesbury we took a route avoiding the hill into Whitchurch, but then couldn’t get up the hill into Pitchcott, and were forced to go down a single track route into the back of the village. When we met a car coming the other way I had to stop… then we couldn’t get going again, so Nikki had to push, and when we did get going she opened the car door and jumped in whilst I was moving. We slipped all over the place, but eventually arrived home, and when I parked up we cheered and then slumped in sheer relief.

I will not be driving to work tomorrow… I will work from home.

On Saturday evening we went to some friends in the village for ‘Carols and Caroles’, which involved mulled wine, food, and singing loads of carols… great fun.

My trip to pick up Robbie on Thursday was almost as painful as the one to get Nikki. I had a half day booked off from work, and left for Northampton around 2pm. I made progress around the M25, then uo the M1, until everything came to a standstill. Eventually I got off the motorway, but a junction earlier than anticipated, so unsure how to get to the university. I picked up the ring road, but it was now past 4pm and getting busy. All of a sudden out of nowhere a dalmatian dog appeared running along the dual carriageway, he ran into a moving car which trapped his lower leg under a front tyre. Poor thing. The dog was put into somebody’s car and driven off I assume to a vets… with distraught owner with the dog. Eventually I arrived at the uni. We filled the car up with Rob’s gear, and headed back in the snow… We had to get some shopping on the way home, and it anded up being 7:30 by the time we got home.

The trip home from work on Friday took over 2 hours because of the weather. So right now I am not too keen to be sat in the car, it feels like I spend too much time in there.

Tricia’s mince pies have been very popular, she has been very busy this last week. But, things should be quieter for her this week. Ellie has finished school, she is counting the days to Christmas. All the decorations are up. There is a busyish week ahead, but I am looking forward to the Christmas break. If for no other reason than having a break… I am off Christmas Eve, and then not due back till January.

Well, it was only a matter of time I suppose. After arriving safely in Winterberg, Nikki and Gillian had their first training runs down the track on Monday… and crashed 3 times, with Nikki coming out on one of the runs, and hurting her shoulder. She wasn’t able to do any training runs on the Wednesday, and they pulled out of the competition which should have taken place on Wednesday and Thursday. It seems there were 44 crashes in the 2 days of training runs, which apparantly is an unusually high number. On the Thursday they actually abandoned the mens competition after the first 3 teams crashed out. Nikki said that the issue was due to a Luge competition which had taken place the previous weekend, and had affected some of the corners.

Nikki came home Friday for the weekend. She showed us her lovely bruised shoulder, but she is fine. The problem was her toe which she cut before she went, and a visit to A&E on Saturday saw the toe tended to. Nikki enjoyed her weekend at home. Saturday she went off to a food fayre in Haddenham, today she came to church with us this morning, then helped Tricia get the decorations up. This afternoon we went back up to church for the lighting of the tree, and singing carols around the village. Tricia took Nikki back this evening.

Rob has one more week of this term laft at Uni. I will be picking him up Thursday. Ellie is out in Berlin at the moment. She left at 6am on Saturday morning, and comes back Tuesday evening. It is a school trip, and it seems they have spent Sat and Sun looking around Berlin. Tomorrow they spend some time in a German school. She was very excited about her trip… and will no doubt come back full of stories, and probably very tired !

Tricia and I went out with some friends for a curry last night, and enjoyed a day at home today, with Nikki. But … right now, we have a glimpse of the future… all the kids are away… its just Tricia and me… the house seems very quiet and empty !

It could have waited till January or February… but no, it decided to arrive at the end of November. It was cold and inconvenient… I managed to get to work and life carried on as normal, just a bit slower getting to places. It lingered to yesterday and then thawed 

On Friday I picked Nikki up in Hatfield and dropped her off at Stansted. She has flown out to Winterberg in Germany. Of course in true Nikki style, she nearly injured herself first by slipping over in the shower on Friday morning and cutting her big toe. Her housemates laughed… I just sighed when she told me, after all Nikki has been breaking things, and sometimes herself, on a regular basis these last 22 years. It was just another scrape / fall / break (delete as appropriate). Nikki is racing on Wednesday and Thursday. (For facebook users, you need to go the ‘Crew Cooke’ page, and ‘like’ the page, then you will be able to see Nikki’s updates).

Today Nikki asked…. ‘can we store the bobsleigh in the garage over Christmas’… Well, I suppose its different. Not every 22 year old daughter asks to keep a bobsleigh at home.

I picked Robbie up on Thursday evening, he came back as we were going to see Spamalot at MK theatre on Saturday night. H eenjoyed Spamalot, and has had a relaxing weekend catching up on some tv. He is looking forward to catching up with some of his friends over the Xmas period. He seems to be enjoying uni life. Tricia took him back this afternoon.

Ellie played clarinet in assembly on Friday. It’s good to hear her playing again. The sling is off, but the arm hasn’t fully healed. She had a physio session last week to start stretching the arm out, and has to do exercises daily. Yesterday at the North Marston Xmas Bazaar, she won a coffee maker in the raffle, and was pleased with herself. On Friday she goes out to Berlin for the weekend with the school. Tricia and I were looking forward to a peaceful and quiet weekend together… looks like we will be taking delivery of a bobsleigh though!

Tricia has been busy with cake production… and chutney selling. Some of her stock was on sale at an event in London… and Sir Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings etc) bought some!

A chaotic week ahead… no point moaning about it… better get out there and just get on with it!